In the past, paint has been uniformly sold in the United States at the retail level in one gallon cylindrical cans or containers. Certain prior art paint mixers were designed for mixing custom colors of paint in these one gallon cylindrical containers, using both revolving ( or orbital) and spinning motion with the cylindrical container held at an angle during paint mixing operation. Recently paint has become available in a square or rectangular shaped polymer container which has a handle molded integrally into one corner of the container for the painter's convenience in pouring paint from the container. This new design of paint container results in a significant imbalance (because, in part, of the void created with the molded handle) when the paint container is subject to the orbital and spinning motion desirable for paint mixing.
When prior paint art mixers were attempted to be used with a rectangular shaped paint container, unacceptable vibration resulted. Imbalance in prior art paint mixers manifests itself in vibration of the mixer, sometimes resulting in the mixer “walking” or moving laterally across the surface upon which it was supported. Such walking is undesirable, particularly when the mixer is located on a surface elevated above a floor, as for example, when the mixer is “stacked” on top of other equipment, placed on a countertop, or placed in stand.